ROME (Reuters) – There is much about Italy’s new center-left prime minister Enrico Letta, who named his cabinet on Saturday, that is likely to please financial markets and Rome’s international partners.

He is young, moderate and pro-European, and despite his low public profile he has been a member of the European political elite for many years. Letta speaks fluent English and has a sound grasp of economics.

ROME (Reuters) – Italy’s new Economy Minister Fabrizio Saccomanni is a 70-year-old central banker virtually unknown to the general public, who should reassure financial markets and the rest of Europe that the country will not stray from fiscal orthodoxy.

He has spent most of the last 46 years at the Bank of Italy, where he is deputy governor, having been passed over for the top job when Mario Draghi left in 2011 to head the European Central Bank.

ROME, April 27 (Reuters) – Italian centre-left politician
Enrico Letta said on Saturday he had won support of other
parties to form a coalition government that will include one of
former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi’s closest allies as
deputy prime minister.

Letta met President Giorgio Napolitano after talks with
Berlusconi and leaders of his centre-right People of Freedom
(PDL) party to confirm that he had reached an accord which would
clear the way for a government to be formed.

ROME (Reuters) – There is much about 46-year-old Enrico Letta, named as Italy’s new prime minister designate on Wednesday, that is likely to please financial markets and Rome’s international partners.

He is young, moderate and pro-European, and despite his low public profile he has been a member of the European political elite for many years. Letta speaks fluent English and has a sound grasp of economics.

ROME (Reuters) – President Giorgio Napolitano completed a rapid round of talks with Italy’s parties and is expected to name a new prime minister on Wednesday, ending a stalemate since February’s inconclusive election.

Italy has been politically adrift in the middle of a recession as the centre-left Democratic Party (PD), which has the most seats in parliament, failed for two months to cut a deal with the centre-right of former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi or the anti-establishment 5-Star Movement.

ROME (Reuters) – Italy’s president held urgent talks on Tuesday aimed at naming a prime minister to head a coalition government backed by the rival parties on the centre-left and centre-right and end two months of post-election stalemate.

Hopes that a government can be formed quickly gave a further boost to financial markets on Tuesday, with the yield on 10-year Italian government bonds dropping below 4 percent and the spread, or risk premium over German bonds, narrowing further.

ROME (Reuters) – Italy’s president held urgent talks aimed at naming a prime minister on Tuesday after two months of post-election stalemate, with the young center-left mayor of Florence Matteo Renzi emerging as a late candidate for the job.

Former Prime Minister Giuliano Amato is widely considered to be the favored choice of President Giorgio Napolitano, who has the final say and is expected to make the appointment late on Tuesday or Wednesday.

ROME (Reuters) – The Italian parliament on Saturday re-elected 87-year-old President Giorgio Napolitano to serve a second term in an attempt to resolve the political stalemate left by February’s inconclusive election.

As most of parliament cheered his re-election, demonstrators protested outside. By evening the crowd had swelled as thousands of people vented anger at an outcome that was widely seen as perpetuating the grip on the country of a discredited political class and favouring centre-right leader Silvio Berlusconi.

ROME (Reuters) – Italian President Giorgio Napolitano agreed on Saturday to serve a second term after a divided parliament failed for a fifth time to elect his successor and risked prolonged political paralysis.

The presidency is a largely ceremonial position but is crucial at times of political instability like the present, when the president plays a major role in forming a government and has the power to dissolve parliament.

ROME (Reuters) – Italian President Giorgio Napolitano agreed on Saturday to serve a second term after a divided parliament failed for a fifth time to elect his successor and risked prolonged political paralysis.

The presidency is a largely ceremonial position but is crucial at times of political instability like the present, when the president plays a major role in forming a government and has the power to dissolve parliament.